Credited cast: | |||
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Roberto Bertea | ... | Nazi scientist (voice) |
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Fiorella Betti | ... | Lisa (voice) |
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Vittorio Cramer | ... | Radio Newscaster (voice) |
Carlo D'Angelo | ... | Narrator (voice) | |
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Luciano De Ambrosis | ... | Adam's boys Leader (voice) |
Arturo Dominici | ... | Nightclub Bouncer (voice) | |
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Micaela Esdra | ... | Nervustrella (voice) |
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Corrado Gaipa | ... | Colonel (voice) |
Oreste Lionello | ... | Mini VIP (voice) | |
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Pino Locchi | ... | Schultz (voice) |
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Lydia Simoneschi | ... | Happy Betty (voice) (as Lidia Simoneschi) |
A satire of modern society recounting the adventures of the last in a line of Supermen, the film pokes fun at the processes that lie behind advertising, politics and our consumer society.
The unprecedented success of Bozzetto's WEST AND SODA ensured a more ambitious follow-up with the aid of American financiers. Biting the hand that fed him (Bozzetto had primarily been involved in making animated commercials), he came up with a sharply satirical narrative about the perils inherent in incessant commercial spoon-feeding to Italian TV audiences. Supervip is the latest in a long line of strapping superheroes while Minivip is his inept 'accidental' twin brother; the latter short, bespectacled and saddled with an inferiority complex is a splendid caricature of Woody Allen. During a psychiatrist-imposed vacation, the latter stumbles onto a massive brainwashing conspiracy instigated by Happy Betty, the head of a chain of supermarkets, intent on controlling the worldwide market through missiles lodged into her customers' brain that turn them into compulsive buyers! Every superhero has to have a sweetheart: the intrepid red-headed Lisa is Supervip's girl while the diminutive Nervustrella is the one that loves Minivip in spite of himself; conversely, Happy Betty's minions include a strongman dubbed "The Colonel" and the pint-sized, monocle-sporting Schultz. The film is driven by a superb song score courtesy of Franco Godi that includes a mournful lament by Happy Betty's imprisoned, unsuccessful experiment subjects and a climactic production number performed by the villains themselves when hoist in their own petards. Comic highlight: the "day in the life" demonstration of Happy Betty's assembly-line workers.